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GGI RapidNews R&D Product Development eZine: Volume 8, Issue 11 - November 6, 2007
In This Issue GGI BIENNIAL SURVEY - 2007 Survey Deadline Extended MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY -Innovation Transforms from Art to Science MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY -China Looks "Down Under" for Energy Solutions BOOK REVIEW-True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - Jan08 METRICS SUMMIT - Early Bird Rates THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT 40% OFF - One New Product THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS - One New Listing This Month BIENNIAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SURVEY - 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998 Results GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE - A Monthly Feature CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS - A Monthly Feature TELEVISION EVENTS - Alexander Haig's World Business Review --------------------------------------------------------------------- GGI BIENNIAL SURVEY - 2007 Underway GGI has extended the deadline for its 2007 Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey to Wednesday, November 21. If you have not yet had a chance to complete the survey, please do so as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you. Our thanks to all whom have participated thus far. This year's theme is "Tangible Innovation Processes, Tools, Techniques, & Metrics." We invite all product development professionals who have not already done so to participate in the survey. Simply log on to http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/research-product-development-innovation-process-metrics.shtml. The site provides a description of past surveys as well as instructions for completing the current version. The Table of Contents for the 2007 Survey is:
All participants will receive a complimentary 40-50 page Summary of the Survey Results at the conclusion of the study. The Summary will address each survey question. For each survey question, we will provide factual observations, management analysis, and graphed answers. GGI is more generous than other firms in what we provide back to the folks that make the time to participate in our research. We understand how busy every one is and a short summary of highlights does not provide an adequate return on time invested. We have received only compliments for what we have provided participants in the past. Please be sure that your responses will be held 100% confidence. We will never release data in any form that can be attributed to a single company or single response. We will never release data in a small enough sample that any person or organization can figure out which companies were in the sample. GGI has been in business for twenty years and we understand the importance of being trusted and confidential. In fact, we believe that the survey questions do not request any information that would be considered confidential in nature and thus would require permission of a senior manager to be released. The survey close date is October 15, 2007. For more information please contact Brett Kratchman at GGI at 781-444-5400 x202. MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY -Innovation Transforms from Art to Science Condensed from "Something New Under the Sun:" A Special Report on Innovation, October 13, 2007, The Economist,published by The Economist Group, Inc., United Kingdom. Despite difficulties in trying to define it, the innovation process is steadily becoming a practical science to be measured,taught and managed, notes The Economist in its October 13, 2007 Special Report on Innovation. For example, the Haas business school at the University of California at Berkeley has rewritten its curriculum to concentrate on innovation management. At GE, company officials use a highly structured process involving a mix of management training, increased exposure to outside ideas, and continuous funding to turn ideas into profits. The company also accepts failure as an integral part of the process, as long as it is a "fast failing." Not only must any failure of new ideas be "fast", the population of new ideas should be kept under control. Harold Sirkin, co-author of the book Payback, warns firms against too much emphasis on creativity. Too many ideas clog the pipeline, he says. Niklas Savander of Nokia argues that in the light of global innovation, firms "need really harsh discipline to weed out ideas quite quickly." The experts even warns firms against trying too hard to please their best customers. Companies should not overload their products with features that appeal to the high-end buyers, if, in turn, the majority of their customers cannot afford the extras. This only opens the door to competitors to enter the market with lower-end, but perfectly acceptable products, argues Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma. To view the full Special Report on Innovation go to The Economist Web Site. MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - China Looks "Down Under" for Energy Solutions Condensed from "Tower of Power," Business 2.0 Magazine, August 2006, pages 94-102, published by Business 2.0 Media, Inc., New York, New York. Designed by Germans, promoted by an Australian,and heavily financed by the Chinese, Tapio Station is a quarter-mile-high tower slated to be built in the ranch lands of New South Wales. When completed, this 50-megawatt facility will be the world's first pollution-free electric power plant. The solar tower was designed by Schlaich Bergermann of Germany and promoted by the Melbourne-based renewable-energy company EnviroMission. Xiang Jiang Industrial of China has invested $8 million for solar towers in its homeland in anticipation of a pending deadline that China produce 10 percent of its power by renewable sources by the year 2010. The design includes a 600-foot high solar tower encircled by a canopy at its base that is two miles in diameter. Air, super-heated by the sun's radiation, moves into and up the tower column. The resulting wind spins turbine generators,generating electricity but no greenhouse gases. Interest in this project is not restricted to the Pacific Rim. EnviroMission Chief Executive Roger Davey is considering opening an office in Phoenix, AZ, and is meeting with local officials in other Southwestern states including New Mexico and Texas. For more information about Solar Updraft Towers, go to the Wikipedia Web Site. BOOK REVIEW True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, Bill George with Peter Sims, Jossey-Bass, 2007, Copyright Bill George 2007, ISBN-10: 0787987514. In an effort to determine the core characteristics of successful business leaders, former Medtronic CEO Bill George interviewed 125 "Captains of Industry and Government," from Palm co-founder Donna Dubinsky to Nixon White House Staff Members David Gergen and Jon Huntsman. He discovered five personality traits that enable leaders to bring people together for a common cause. According to George, an authentic leader: Moore suggests that companies tackle innovation and inertia in tandem by extracting resources from "Context" and redirect them to "Core" activities. Successful companies, such as Cisco Systems, do this as part of their day-to-day business practices. According to George, an authentic leader:
He says that one can learn to be a leader by examining one's own life story and passion. He notes that while we are tempted by the rewards of external motivation (such as money, title, and social status), we should balance those desires with the more rewarding internal motivations such as personal growth, helping others develop, or being true to one's beliefs. By doing so, we lead by example and motivate associates to perform at their highest level. George notes that some companies now recognize the potential of practicing solid values and have shifted from a "Management by Objectives" approach to one of "Leading by Values" tact. For example, when IBM CEO Sam Palmisano took over from Lou Gerstner, he implemented a company-wide process by which all employees could participate in determining what the firm's values should be. While this book is based on the life experience of industry leaders, we believe that its principles apply equally to people in all stages of self-improvement. We therefore recommend this book both to people in leadership roles and to those undergoing transitions in their career or personal lives. For more information or to order a copy of True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, go to Amazon.com. UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - METRICS SUMMIT JANUARY 2008 GGI's Product Development Metrics Summit will be held January 29-31, 2008, in Metro Boston. Please join us for a series of three seminars, which focus on major areas of importance to R&D executives and managers. Early Bird Rates and Discounts will be in effect until EOB Pacific Time, Friday November 30, 2007. Many prior Summit participants were kind enough to share their written comments so that future participants could get a better idea of what to expect. Testimonials. The first seminar [Measuring Product Development II (MPDII)- January 29] addresses setting hurdle rates, assessing risk and complexity, tradeoff analysis, measuring capacity, and assessing overall financial performance. Click here to view the MPDII Abstract or to download the Table of Contents. The second seminar [Proactive and Predictive R&D Metrics (PPRD) - January 30] focuses on three stages of developing early, predictive metrics that will enable managers to foresee issues on the horizon or to know that success is in front of them. Click to view the PPRD Abstract or to download the Table of Contents. The third seminar, a capstone, [Product Development Metrics Portfolios (PDMP) - January 31] covers the areas of metrics for R&D and product development that are not discussed in the prior two seminar days and then shifts focus. Company teams gather and working groups form around Innovator, Innovator/Extender, Balanced, and Extender R&D strategies for the purpose of developing a set of measures for the R&D organization as a whole, including the few measures that should be used by the corporation to measure R&D productivity, output, and overall performance results. Click to view the PDMP Abstract or to download the Table of Contents. All three seminars are geared to executives and top-level professionals that manage entire organizations, departments, and budgets. It is also of benefit to senior program management executives. Registration is easy. If you are registering a team, you can sign up any number of people in one transaction. Our site provides for registering the contact information for one person. We will contact you to get the contact information for the remaining team members. If you are already registered, our Leisure Time Activities page may be useful for planning transportation, meals, and personal time outside the Summit. For more information please download a brochure. THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT 40% OFF - Design Review Checklists Discounted Item: Periodically, GGI's iStore features one item that we discount 40%. We are now offering our Design Review Checklist, DR10PAKc. Design Review Checklists (Electronic Copy - Corporate License), Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, MA, USA, $570.00 [List Price $950.00] Covers all ten checklists, covering a wide range of products, from those with a single technical domain (like mechanical), to those with mixed domains (such as mechanical, electronics and embedded, operating system and/or applications software). GGI's Featured Item changes approximately every other month and is always offered at 40% discount. To order this material, please go to GGI's Featured Item on the GGI Home Page. THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS - 1 New Listing We have added a new item this month. Please click on the item number for a more detailed description and ordering information. T69 "Innovation Practices & Measures For Organic R&D Productivity," Copyright 2007 by Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, Massachusetts, USA, ISBN 1-932468-68-4, November 5, 2007, [68 pages].
Price: T69h (hard copy) = $268, T69c (electronic corporate license) = $335, T69sc (electronic corporate/supply chain license) = $503.
As innovation moves from a "Black Art" to a Management Science, measures that address R&D productivity and innovation are evolving to keep pace. For example, measures of profit are gaining popularity, as are those of portfolios and intellectual property. And while Open Innovation is the current rage, improved organic innovation is the real desire of most companies. This paper offers a number of techniques to achieve improved organic innovation and productivity including: seven benchmarked actions that increase innovation and productivity; current tools that induce the most innovation; emerging technologies that increase innovation; those productivity and innovation metrics whose industry penetration is on the rise; and aggregate performance information that supports the case for investment in innovation-enablers. Section Titles Include:
For more information, please go to The Wisdom iStore. T69 is specifically located in the Technical Papers Section. BIENNIAL METRICS SURVEY RESULTS 2004 Product Development Metrics Survey - Product Selection, IP Management, and Top Corporate Metrics: The Summary Report (MR32h) and Highlights Report (MR31h) for GGI's 2004 Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey are now available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. The research includes 202 respondent companies. There was a 5% response rate. McKinsey & Company, Texas Instruments, Rockwell, Kimberly Clark, JDS Uniphase, Shure, Curtiss Wright Flight Systems and Datacard are representative of companies that purchase market research from GGI. The 2004 Survey focused on the following five areas of product selection and IP management:
We have already shared many results with GGI RapidNews readers since we began this line of business in 1998. 2004 Survey results ran in six RN issues, RN V5I11 - RN V6I5, which may be found in the RN archives, along with results from prior years. Some additional complimentary information about the survey is available: The three commercial versions of the survey results that we currently offer for public purchase are:
1. 2004 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: A text-only report (75 pages), including the full text of all the results and analysis of the survey population analyzed as a whole, and Individual sections of the research reports, as well as logical combinations of sections are also available. All reports are available in printed or electronic versions. These reports are available in the Market Research Section of The Wisdom iStore. 2002, 2000, 1998 Product Development Metrics Survey: The Summary and Highlights Reports for GGI's prior Biennial Product Development Metrics Surveys are also available for purchase by the public through The Wisdom iStore. Information about the purpose and focus of prior surveys may be found in our Biennial Survey Archives. GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE GTK- Gateway To Knowledge is a DIRECTORY OF THOUSANDS OF LINKS to providers of engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing technologies and services. If you hit the right subjects, it is more useful than a search engine! The "main entrance" to GTK can be found at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/index.shtml For those of you that do not want to go through the main entrance above, some of the Gateways that we believe you will find useful or entertaining are highlighted below. Technology Providers
CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS GGI's Calendar of Industry Events contains an up-to-date listing of links to Conferences, Seminars, Distance Learning Centers, Colleges & Universities, Executive Education, and Corporate-Sponsored Universities. The calendar has just been updated with 60 upcoming conferences and seminars throughout 2007. The categories we follow are: The categories of conferences, seminars, and distance learning are further organized into the following subject areas: If you are looking for a conference or other learning opportunity, check out the Calendar. This free service for our readers is front and center on GGI's Home Page. Or, go directly to the Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway.
TELEVISION EVENTS Alexander Haig's World Business Review: Brad Goldense has made several appearances on Alexander Haig's World Business Review. Streaming video is available for all shows, which aired on August 4, September 29 and December 15, 2002 and on May 20, 2003. See below for details. May 20, 2003 Broadcast of September 29th In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site. December 15, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (7.5 minutes) on CNBC paid programming: Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site. September 29, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment (as well as the entire 30-minute show) is available on GGI's web site. August 4, 2002 On-Location at GGI (3.5 minutes): This On-Location field report is available in streaming video on GGI's web site. The web page includes links to download a streaming video player, if you do not currently have one installed on your computer. For more information on any of Brad's appearances on television, go to: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggi-goldense-product-development-tv-television-broadcast.shtml. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GGI RapidNews is an e-mail publication from Goldense Group, Inc (GGI). Its subject matter includes survey findings, company news, book and article reviews, key industry conferences and R&D information of interest to clients and associates. Please send communications to rn(at)goldensegroupinc.com. Thank you. | |||